Ashaiman Night Market Road - Investigating Social Order in the Night-Time Economy of a Rural Urban Market

This research investigates the lives of street traders in the night-time economy of an urban market in Accra, Ghana's capital city. Open 24 hours a day and situated in a migrant settlement of the city, the Ashaiman Night Market Road provides an ideal space to investigate lives of the urban poor who work through the night. Whilst research on urban areas of the more developed world have shown the night as a different time-space that has the capacity for more autonomy from the state (Shaw, 2018), urban nights in the developing world have not received the same level of attention. In cities of the developing world, high levels of informal employment and personal rule are creating complex and, as yet, poorly understood economic and political dynamics (Hart, 1973, Paller, 2014). Through ethnographic analysis of Ashaiman Night Market Road, I will explore the lives of informal street vendors who work through the night, their different interactions, experiences and economic activities, and how it is that social order is maintained or disrupted on the street. The research will be enhanced by the Geography and Resource Development department at the University of Ghana (UG) through survey research of night traders conducted with guidance from Dr Mariama Zaami. I propose to advance debates on night-time economies, urban development, governance, and informality.